Medical Terminology / Unit 15 MedTerm 0961 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Abbreviation, Acronym, and Initialism
Captions available
The idea
An abbreviation shortens a word; an initialism is spoken letter by letter; an acronym is spoken as a word.
In practice
CT is an initialism. CABG, spoken as cabbage, is an acronym.
Where people slip
All three are shortcuts, and all three lose information the full form carried.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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